Wars of National Liberation

On January 6, 1961, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushschev delivered a speech in Moscow in which he predicted that the world was moving toward
socialism and that "wars of national liberation'' were the main instrument of that movement. Additionally, he pledged Soviet support for indigenous
rebellions to overthrow fascists and capitalists. President John F. Kennedy interpreted the speech as an official assertion of the Soviet Union's intention
to use surrogate forces to advance its interests rather than direct engagements with the United States. Kennedy saw the Communist movements in Latin
America, Africa, and Southeast Asia as part of that large Soviet tactic, and he devised new counterinsurgency strategies to oppose them. Vietnam
became the test case for Kennedy's counterinsurgency program to foil a war of national liberation.